Up to 700 employees at the MCA are to stage a 24 hour strike on the 6th March over pay.

The BBC has reported that it will affect emergency calls and operations at 19 UK search and rescue co-ordination centres, but not staff who are sent out to emergencies.

The general secretary of the Public and Commercial services union, Mark Serwotka, said: “This unprecedented vote… illustrates the depth of anger among staff who provide a vital emergency service. This is not a step which our coastguard members have taken lightly.”

Pay levels are so low that watch assistants have needed a special pay rise to bring them up to the level of the national minimum wage.”

In a Press release, Peter Cardy, Chief Executive of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said; I am very saddened by this result… Safety at sea is the MCAs key priority and by our contingency plans which are now in place I can reassure the public that an emergency response for those at risk will not be compromised by industrial action.

Affected MCA centres are

Portland
Solent
Dover
London
Thames
Yarmouth
Humber
Liverpool
Holyhead
Milford Haven
Swansea
Falmouth
Brixham
Belfast
Forth
Clyde
Aberdeen
Stornoway
Shetland